Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM®), FDM being a registered trademark of Stratasys, Inc., is a common three-dimensional printing technique used to print in a variety of settings. It is also referred to as Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). The technique involves printing a three-dimensional object, layer by layer. A print head having an extrusion nozzle travels within an x-y coordinate plate to individually extrude small beads of material, such as thermoplastic, at individual locations within the plane. The extruded beads then harden and solidify. The material can be supplied to the print head in a number of manners, but in some instances a plastic filament or metal wire is unwound from a coil and supplied to the extrusion nozzle, which in turn extrudes the material at a single point within the layer. After the print head travels to each printing location with the x-y coordinate plane so that each bead is printed and hardens to form a layer of the printed object, another layer is printed above the previous layer. Printing of the second layer is done in a similar manner, with the print head traveling within an x-y coordinate plane that is disposed vertically above the previous layer to individually extrude small beads of material at individual locations within the plane. This technique continues, layer-by-layer, until the three-dimensional object is complete.
While FDM is a popular way to print three-dimensionally, it suffers from a number of deficiencies. For example, printing an object using FDM is a very slow process, making it unsuitable for printing large structures. The very nature of the physics associated with FDM makes it slow. Moving the print head to each individual location within a layer to print takes time and energy, and requires a complex and costly machine design. Alternatively, moving a build platform on which the printing occurs to a stationary print head takes a long time and a large amount of energy to perform a single print job. Those skilled in the art recognize that it is a rate-limited printing process, and thus its use is often limited to slow-turn components and low volume production. The process also requires a large amount of energy. For example, when a print head has multiple nozzles, each nozzle is typically individually, directly controlled, which means that the number of actuators (n) involved is n2, complicating control circuitry design and requiring high power dissipation. These separate extrusion mechanisms must all have associated mechanical constraints and controls. Still further, the properties of the materials used typically in FDM, in light of the technique itself, also contributes to the slow nature of the printing technique. Another common three-dimensional printing technique, stereolithography (SLA), also currently suffers from deficiencies, including its speed (even in its digital light processing, or DLP, form), and the limited types of material that can be used to print using this technique.
Accordingly, it is desirable for three-dimensional printing systems, devices, and methods to allow for a higher throughput, at least in some applications, even at the expense of quality, at least to some degree. Such systems, devices, and methods could be used in a home or office setting, and/or for prototyping. For example, systems, devices, and methods that allow for furniture and car dashboards to be printed in a faster manner than when printed using FDM is desirable.